Swift/XRT view on S5 0716+714 during a flare

Abstract

The blazar S5 0716+714 has been monitored in its flaring state between 2015 January 19 and February 22 with Swift/XRT. During this period an exceptional flux level was observed in the X-ray range as well as in the other wavelengths, e.g. optical, near infrared and very high energy $\gamma$ rays. Here, we report X-ray observations of S5 0716+714 carried out during the outburst. The observed X-ray spectra, well described with broken power-law model, disentangle both synchrotron and inverse Compton components. The break energy shifts towards higher energies with increasing flux, revealing the dominance of synchrotron radiation in the X-ray spectrum observed. We also report spectrum softening with increasing flux. During the recent flare, significant temporal intranight variability is observed in the X-ray range.